In the wake of last week’s events in Manchester, my hometown, I can tell you first-hand that the entire community has been shaken to its core.

I have never been so proud to be a Mancunian as I was last week, upon the emergence of stories of taxi drivers offering free lifts, homeless gentlemen running into the chaos to save lives, people opening up their homes for those in need of a bed for the night, Rabbis dropping off tea for on duty police officers and Muslims protesting against terror attacks carried out in the name of their religion.

The spirit of Manchester is genuinely something unique, and the ‘Greater’ part is more than just a name. It’s the home of the first railway station, the inventor of the first computer, the industrial revolution. It is the home of dream and opportunity. It has all that London has to offer, minus the traffic jams.

While communities with a less tight knit sense of community might turn in on themselves in response to despair, Manchester has come together. In the 1996 the Manchester bombing – the biggest bomb detonation in Britain since WWII – the IRA got nothing more than a headline, soon to be forgotten about. Manchester, on the other hand, got a brand spanking new city centre that we still enjoy to this day, the paltry attempt of the IRA to frighten us into weakness long forgotten.

Perhaps most importantly, Manchester was the home of Emmeline Pankhurst. The unassuming Manchester girl used her northern grit and drive and conviction and changed the face of politics forever. In her name, as a woman and as a Mancunian, now more than ever is the need to vote and have your voice heard imperative. Whether your opinion coincides with mine or clashes completely, make it heard. Take your sadness, grief, anger, indignation, and channel it into making a difference.